


Letter from the Past

by Kelette



Series: Tales of the Time Witch [2]
Category: Tales of Phantasia
Genre: Gen, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-14 00:42:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12996096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kelette/pseuds/Kelette
Summary: Cress, Mint, and Chester have arrived to their present timeline. Before heading home to the destroyed Toltus they stop by Euclid to pay their respects to Klarth's grave.





	Letter from the Past

When Cress, Mint, and Chester arrived at Euclid, the other two looked at Cress.

“Are you sure you want to spend the night here?” Chester asked. “After everything that happened with your aunt and uncle?”

Cress didn’t feel enough anger to even try to hide it. “It’s fine,” he said.

“In that case…” Mint clutched her staff tighter in her hands. “Could we visit the graveyard here?”

Cress stared at her blankly. “The graveyard?”

Chester’s eyes flashed. “Klarth might be buried here.”

Mint nodded, her eyes downcast.

“Oh.” Cress looked down as well, none of them willing to meet the others’ eyes. He hadn’t really thought about it (hadn’t wanted to think about it), but saying goodbye to Klarth meant returning to a time when their friend was already dead. “Yeah, let’s go.”

The trio ran into a gravekeeper almost immediately after entering the graveyard.

“Could you direct us to Klarth F. Lester’s grave?” Mint asked. The group held their breath. 

Cress almost hoped that the gravekeeper would so no, that no such person was buried, and that Klarth could be found alive in his home in Euclid.

The gravekeeper’s eyes brightened at Klarth’s name. “Rare to see children your age interested in an academic legend.”

“Is he a legend then?”

“Of course, he’s a local legend! Most of us don’t really care about his academic works, of course, but he left a lot of money to Euclid on one small condition, so…”

“What condition is that?” Chester asked sharply. 

“Just that we make a delivery for him,” the gravekeeper explained, gesturing for the group to follow him down the path. 

Cress stumbled after the others. His mind was still trying to process the blow. Klarth was dead, so suddenly. Technically it may have been fifty years ago, but the death felt as sudden as his parents’ death.

“I didn’t catch your names,” the gravekeeper said as they walked.

Mint looked up when she realized that Chester and Cress had no interest in answering. Cress was too busy staring at the graveyard, realizing painfully that it was a lot larger than the one he had seen in the past. “I’m Mint Adenade,” she said. “These two are Cress and Chester.”

The gravekeeper narrowed his eyes. “Cress Albane and Chester Barklight?”

“How’d you know?” Chester asked.

The gravekeeper stared at them. “We have a letter for you three,” he said. “From Klarth F. Lester himself.”

Instead of taking them to Klarth’s grave, the man took them to the mayor of Euclid. After some struggles he procured the inheritance that Klarth had left them.

“This letter is the important one,” the gravekeeper explained. “The rest was just some stuff he wrote that he wanted you three to have. You won’t have a problem dividing it up between yourselves, will you?”

Mint shook her head. “No, thank you.” She accepted the letter and looked back at Cress and Chester. When she was certain they wouldn’t object she opened the letter and began to read. Her eyes widened. “No!”

“Mint?” Cress asked, his chest tightening with apprehension. Mint looked as distraught as she did the first time he had met her. “Is everything okay?”

Mint shook her head. She held out the letter, not looking at it anymore.

Cress and Chester shared a worried glance, but Mint had held it out to Cress so Cress took it to read first.

 _Cress, Mint, Chester,_  
_I hope this letter finds you in the same good health I left you in. With any luck, you’ll find this sooner rather than later. I’m afraid I have unfortunate news to share with you. I’m writing this in the year 4015. Arche is dead._

Cress stopped reading. He looked up, his eyes blinking rapidly. Mint’s hands had covered her face, trying to hide her tears. 

“Cress, what is it?” Chester asked, almost impatiently.

Cress couldn’t look at his friend, and he couldn’t stand to watch Mint any longer, so he returned to reading.

_I’m sorry for the directness, but I thought I shouldn’t mince words. We all thought Arche would outlive all of us… She died last year, and it took me this entire time to find the words to compose this letter._

Cress let his hand drop, not caring to read any more.

“Cress!” Chester shouted.

Cress looked at his friend and realized he didn’t want him to have to read the letter to find out. 

“Arche is dead,” he said. “She passed on long before Klarth did.”

There was a fury and sadness that overwhelmed Chester’s face. He turned away and stormed out of the room. Cress looked back at Mint, stepping forward to gently place his hand on her shoulder.

“We shouldn’t let him go off on his own,” Mint said, sniffing. “We’ve lost too many friends today.”

Cress nodded wordlessly. Mint and Cress filed out of the room, past the alarmed looking gravekeeper. Cress reached out and grasped Mint’s hand as they walked. He wondered how he could have fought so hard for so long, only for nothing to come of it. His parents were still gone. Dhaos’ defeat had only left a bitter taste in his mouth. Now Klarth and Arche were dead. (Klarth and Arche had always been dead, since the day he was born, Cress tried to remind himself).

Mint squeezed his hand. Cress looked up and tried to leave his thoughts behind as they went in search of Chester.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this awhile ago and I had forgotten the main reason why, so I was confused that Klarth would need a letter delivered. "Couldn't he just ask Arche?" XD I made myself sad! 
> 
> Anyway, concrit is always welcome!


End file.
